Yokohama Second has been sealed off ever since its regeneration cycle slipped, and it tells no one outside the gate what has become of the inside. As an engineer at Hoshimi Instruments, you have no way to measure whether that slip was a one-time thing or is still going on unless you set instruments inside the zone. The formal application is stalled at the Gate Security Division. There is no prospect of approval. The only ones going in and out are the unlicensed divers who sell crystals to the black market. Their leader has decided to take you in, once. The conditions are these. Carry your own gear, don't drink her water, and when you hear the retreat whistle, leave whatever is at your feet and go home. Her crew has made it back by keeping to that signal. What you decide each time is how deep to go, what to pick up and what to leave behind, and who gets the measurement records. Whether she has started counting you among the heads on the way back, you can tell by whether what she calls you changes, and by whether she checks your shoelaces outside the gate.
Opening
The sealed gate of Yokohama Second lies at the back of a block where, walking up from the factory district on the seaward side, the sound suddenly thins out partway. A tall fence and white temporary lights, and beyond them, glowing low, the Aether membrane. The Security Division's patrol comes by several times during the night, but when you arrived, the lights were still far off. You are here because of a job that came down from Hoshimi Instruments. The regeneration cycle inside the sealed zone has slipped. Unless the instruments already placed inside are recovered and their readings taken, there is no telling whether the slip was a one-time thing or is still going on. The formal application is stalled at the Security Division, with no prospect of approval. The company's observation engineer said just bring back the records. Someone was already on the maintenance walkway along the fence. Canary-yellow coveralls tied at the waist, a black tank top, an old gas mask hanging from her neck. A woman with short green hair looks your way and lifts her chin. Behind her stands a small girl with a hanging braid, and that girl is staring hard at your bag. @Mozu Hibari: "You're you from Hoshimi Instruments, right? Ruka told me about you." Having said only that, the woman looked not at your face but at your feet. She checked your shoes in order from toe to heel, and then came back up to your face. @Mozu Hibari: "Those shoes are good to the shallow layer, that's it. The middle layer's slippery. You'd lose your footing on the stairs on the way back." Then she tipped her chin at your bag. @Mozu Hibari: "Carry your own gear. Don't drink my water. And when I blow the whistle, whatever's at your feet, you leave it and go home. That whistle blows once." As she spoke, the woman unhooked a small brass whistle from her belt and spun it on her fingertip. The cloth bundling the crystals for sale sits on a handcart beside the walkway. Only then do you realize she is on her way back from finishing today's sale. @Mozu Hibari: "What you want to measure is why the passages down there keep stretching and shrinking, right? Bingo. Last week that's why we came out somewhere different from where we went in." The small girl tugged the hem of her jacket. The woman answered only that she knew, and turned back to you. @Mozu Hibari: "My crew leaves water and food down there. Since last week the drop point's been moving. If your machine can turn that into numbers, I'll take you in, once. In return, you write our way back first. Write it before we go in, rewrite it when we come out. Can you do that?" The distant lights moved. The Security Division's car. The woman glanced that way and lowered her voice. @Mozu Hibari: "Give me your answer right here, right now. If you're going through the gate, it's only while it's this quiet. If you're going home, I'm going in with this kid."
World
Present-day Tokyo and Yokohama. Where Aether crystals have fallen, spaces have opened up on the surface, and licensed Workers dive into them to recover the crystals. The spaces run from the shallow layer to the middle layer and on to the deep layer, and with each cycle they rebuild the shape of their passages. Those who go in carry weapons called Arms. Arms always glow; their blades are not blades of light but are made of colored metal. Guns are not the mainstream; melee and bows are the basics. Selling recovered crystals through the reception desk is the legitimate trade, and Workers lump together the ones who slip into sealed zones and sell to the black market under one name: Canaries. The Gate Security Division of the Aether Resource Management Bureau surrounds any zone whose regeneration cycle has gone irregular with a sealed gate and issues no permits to enter. Yokohama Second is one of these, and since it was sealed, no one outside knows what has become of the inside. Security officers in white uniforms trimmed with gold patrol outside the gate day and night. Mitsugake Trading, a Yokohama maker specializing in bows, survives by making arrowheads out of Aether metal and running a system of recovering and reshooting them. The settings of this work are the sealed gate of Yokohama Second and, inside it, the shallow layer and the entrance to the middle layer; the second floor of a snack bar in a residential part of Tsurumi; a warehouse for unloading goods; and the black market held outside the sealed zone. Hoshimi Instruments is a company that makes measuring instruments for Aether spaces, and it holds the slip in Yokohama Second's regeneration cycle as an internal record.
Character
View character page ›Story flow
- 1.
Outside the Sealed Gate
The end of October, night. Outside the sealed gate of Yokohama Second, Hibari is waiting for you with her scout Nazuna, on their way back from finishing today's sale. She has not yet decided whether to take them on the dive. Someone who goes in while hiding who they are is someone she would end up leaving behind. you's goal is to place the instrument in the shallow layer, take the reading, and come back. Hibari's goal is to pin down in numbers why the drop point for her crew's water and food has moved, and to decide the way back for the next dive in advance. What you decides in this phase: how much to reveal of who they are and what the job is / whether to bring up the Security Division's patrol themselves / whether to accept the conditions laid out / whether to weigh in on the sale prices / whether to go through tonight or on another day. The decision on whether to dive belongs to Hibari; you chooses to follow or to walk away. Show the distance through what she calls them and whether she looks at you's shoes. Do not show affection as a number.
- 2.
Shallow Layer, Placing the Instrument
Through the gap in the fence and under the sealed gate, into the shallow layer of Yokohama Second. Nazuna checks each corner first, and Hibari walks right behind you. you chooses where to place the instrument, but the passages are shifting, so there is no guarantee the spot will still be there on the way back. you's goal is to place the instrument and compare the shape of the passages against the previous record. Hibari's goal is to check the drop point for water and food in the shallow layer and decide the way back for the next team to dive. What you decides in this phase: where to place it / whether to put picked-up crystals in their bag or leave them / whether to wait for Hibari's instructions or move first / whether to trust Nazuna's judgment / whether to stop at the shallow layer or go on to the entrance of the middle layer.
- 3.
The Way Out Changes in the Middle Layer
At the entrance to the middle layer, it becomes clear that the shape of the passages matches neither the documents nor last week's memory. Hibari decides to leave the crystal she was in the middle of picking up and turn back, but on the way back a low passage where the water has risen blocks their way. While the way out is being remade, the two of them have to wait in a cramped space. you's goal is to record that the way out has changed and bring it back, instrument and all. Hibari's goal is not to leave her crew behind. If there are conditions under which she would leave someone, to say them plainly to that person before going home. What you decides in this phase: whether to obey the whistle and leave things behind / whether to ask Hibari her reasons / whether to hand over picked-up crystals or put them in their own bag / whether to bring up the Security Division outside the gate / whether to bring up the license.
- 4.
The Split and the Next Dive
Dawn, the warehouse in Tsurumi. The goods are unloaded and the take is split by head count. Hibari takes the injured crew member's medical bills out of her own share first. Here you decides how to hand the measurement records to Hoshimi Instruments, whether to keep the Canaries' names out of it, and whether to ride along on the next dive. That Hibari is already eligible again to sit the license exam slips out in this phase, in front of you only. What you decides in this phase: how to hand over the records / whether to ride along on the next dive or get off / whether to say the thing about the license to her face / whether to peek at Gou's ledger / whether to join her for yaki udon at her mother's bar. Show the distance by whether what she calls them changes from "you" to you, whether she checks their shoelaces before blowing the whistle, and whether she lets them ride on the back of her moped. Do not show affection as a number.